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Document 5 of 67.

September 24, 1998

SECTION: Nationwide Financial News

LENGTH: 177 words

HEADLINE: NISSHO IWAI TO SET UP SPECIAL NIKE DIVISION

DATELINE: TOKYO, Sept 24

BODY:

Nissho Iwai Corp. (TSE:8063) will set up in October a special division to handle sales of sporting goods made by U.S. firm Nike Inc., for which Nissho Iwai acts as an agent.

The Nike division will handle distribution of Nike products -- exporting goods made in China, Indonesia, Vietnam and elsewhere to 50-60 countries, including the U.S. and South Korea -- as well as related financial operations. It will have three staff members in Tokyo and another three in the U.S.

Nissho Iwai, which has acted as Nike's agent since the 1970s, has recently seen its sales of Nike products climb to 600-700 billion yen a year.

Following its completion of a 30-billion-yen distribution center in Chiba Prefecture that will handle exclusively Nike products, the company now plans to bolster inventory management and supply operations to further expand its Nike-related business.

Because Nike products play such a big role in its business, Nissho Iwai made an exception in using another company's name to designate a division.

(Nikkei)

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

LOAD-DATE: September 24, 1998